The present invention relates to a magnetic recording/playback apparatus, specifically, a digital audio tape recorder for recording data on and reproducing data from a magnetic tape stored in a cassette, particularly for recording audio signals in the form of PCM signals on the magnetic tape and reproducing the audio signals thus recorded from the magnetic tape.
In such a digital audio tape recorder, digital signals are used to record/reproduce audio signals of, e.g., music, making it possible to obtain sound of a quality unavailable from a conventional tape recorder. Moreover, such an audio tape recorder can be made multifunctional in that varieties of ID codes representing the heads of programs, program numbers, time data and the like can be recorded so that a desired program can readily be retrieved and played back in a short time.
However, the user has to replace one cassette with another after completing a recording operation to continually replay a plurality of cassettes because one cassette must be loaded each time for recording/playback purposes. Such an operation becomes invariably troublesome.
Moreover, the tape player of such a conventional type has posed a problem in that, if the user happens to forget which cassette has been loaded therein, it is necessary to interrupt the playback operation to extract the cassette and examine the label thereof or the like in order to ascertain the contents of the cassette. In the case of a car stereo system, for instance, if only the operating unit is arranged in the passenger compartment with the mechanical portion of the apparatus placed in the trunk, it cannot be confirmed which of the cassettes has been loaded without stopping the car. Therefore, the leading end of each cassette must be played to ascertain the contents of the cassettes. For this, the operator must push the operating button each time one cassette is played for the purpose of confirmation. Such operations are extremely troublesome and time-consuming.
Further, when a program is reproduced in the conventional tape recording/playback apparatus, a desired cassette is returned to a magazine after a desired piece of music has been played, and the next cassette is drawn so that desired pieces of music can be reproduced in a repetitive manner. Upon completion of the reproduction of the final piece, the last cassette is returned to the magazine and all operations terminated. In this apparatus, the cassettes are returned to the magazine without being rewound. Accordingly, the cassettes must be rewound before being played again. It therefore not only takes time to restart playback, but also a double playback operation is needed.
Yet further, when, in a conventional apparatus recording is carried out on a timer basis, such as when recording radio broadcast programs, it is not possible, for example, to record popular songs on a first cassette, pop songs on a second cassette, and jazz on a third cassette. Thus, to separate the different types of music onto respective cassettes, manual editing must be performed.